Kingston's Colon set to go for amateur MMA crown

By day, Mike Colon is a mild-mannered account representative for Millens Recycling in Kingston. He greets clients with smiles and handshakes.

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By JUSTIN RODRIGUEZ

recordonline.com

By JUSTIN RODRIGUEZ

Posted Mar. 27, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By JUSTIN RODRIGUEZ
Posted Mar. 27, 2013 at 2:00 AM

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By day, Mike Colon is a mild-mannered account representative for Millens Recycling in Kingston. He greets clients with smiles and handshakes.

After work, however, when he heads to the gym, Colon takes on a different persona.

As Colon puts it, he's looking to hurt you.

"I'm the nicest person in the world until that gym door shuts," Colon said. "That's when I flip the switch."

The fighter version of Colon, 28, will be on full display when he takes on Utica's Josh Ricci for the Art Of Combat flyweight (125 pounds) Mixed Martial Arts amateur championship on April 26 in Binghamton.

This is Colon's first title shot. Ricci is the champion.

Colon wrestled at Kingston High, graduating in 2003. He was the Section 9 runner-up at 119 pounds as a senior and graduated from Marist College with a degree in communications.

After Marist, Colon began dabbling in jiujitsu and boxing, two elements of MMA.

His trainer at TNT MMA in Kingston, Tom Finch — among others — told Colon he had potential. Colon began training under Finch about three years ago and is 6-3 as an amateur, winning his last two fights.

"People told me that I was good and need to compete," Colon said. "So I stopped playing around. It's been an amazing experience and I just love the competition."